


Can you feel the love tonight?

by Adeilla



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bruce is a science potato, Ceiling Vent Clint Barton, Multi, Steve has artificially perfected abs, past Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov hints
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-06-05
Packaged: 2018-04-03 00:18:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4079395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adeilla/pseuds/Adeilla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dr. Pepperony + Brutasha + The Lion King </p>
<p>Pepper suspects her, Tony and Bruce's poly!trio might be going down to two...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can you feel the love tonight?

**Author's Note:**

> I got this silly little idea ages ago and decided to turn it into a quick, fun little fic to write and publish in one go. To make a long story short: I failed. So, basically, this was created long before Age of Ultron when Bruce/Natasha was still a weird little crackship and we knew nothing about Clints relationship status. That doesn't have a huge impact on the fic but it might be something to have in mind while reading...

”What are you thinking about Pepper?” Tony asked. 

The strawberry-blond woman had been standing quietly next to his desk for several minutes now, her eyes gazing off at something far away across the other side of the lab. He looked up from his work when she didn’t respond and moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“Pepper?” He called out softly, mouth close to her ear, before placing a soft kiss at the base of her jaw line.

“Hm?” Pepper woke up from her trance at his touch and gave him a quick glance before averting her eyes back towards the opposite side of the lab.

“I can see what’s happening…” she whispered with a smile.

“What’s happening, darling?” He asked, more focused on while continuing to nuzzle her neck than the conversation. 

“… and they have no idea” Pepper continued. Tony stopped cuddling at her neck and blinked a few times as a frown settled on his face. He jerked his head back and looked at Pepper. 

“What are you talking about?”

Pepper smiled and nodded to the other side of the lab. Tony followed her gaze to see Natasha propped up on a workbench, her back turned towards him and Pepper, and Bruce sitting in a computer chair in front of the desk, chuckling in that calm and drawn-back way of his at what Tony would assume to be something Natasha just said. 

“Natasha and Bruce?” Tony asked, but continued without waiting for a response. “Yes, I think they started bonding over yoga or tai chi or something a few weeks back. She’s been showing up here a lot recently, I don’t-” 

Tony stopped himself as Peppers suspicion suddenly dawned on him.

“Natash and Bruce!?” he repeated, in disbelief this time. “No way! She is too hot for him!” 

Tony gestured towards the couple without noticing Pepper stiffening in his arms. When he turned back to look at her he was faced with a glare he knew all too well. 

“I… uh…” he stumbled out while trying to piece together what he could possibly have done in the last five seconds to annoy Pepper. Genius as he was the realization came within less than half a second.

“And so are you, sweetie!” he quickly added to save himself. “Way out of his league!”

Pepper just raised her eyebrows at his words.

“We’re just… You’re not as shallow, Pepper!” Tony continued to bullshit with a compelling confidence in his words. “You and I, we’ve gotten to know Bruce. We fell in love with this…” Tony made a waving gesture in front of his chest. “…not this!” he continued, moving his hand to wave it in front of his face. “That’s why we’re the perfect guys for you. I got the great looks, he’s got the great personality!”

“Well, your personality certainly is questionable Tony!” Pepper agreed in sarcasm, before continuing in a protective tone: “I can’t believe you just said that about Bruce. He is a sweet, kind man and it was just a matter of time before someone else noticed that as well!”

Pepper looked back at the couple on the other side of the room. “I’m telling you, they’ll fall in love!”

Tony looked back and forth between Pepper and the couple, unable to see this budding romance Pepper was telling him about. 

“Looks like our trio’s down to two” Pepper murmured after a moment with a sad smile.

“Oh come on now Pepper!” Tony argued, leaning back on the desk next to her. “Sure, Bruce looks great in a… dorky… intelligent… homely science-guy kind of way. And you and I? We like that, but Natasha? She used to have a thing with Clint. Clint Barton! Have you looked at that guy recently? And she hangs around Steve all the time. Steve literally has artificially perfected abs, Pepper! How does our little science-potato compare to that?”

“Oh, could you at least try to be a little bit romantic Tony?” Pepper playfully smacked Tonys arm before turning her attention back to Bruce and Natasha with a dreamy look on her face. “The sweet caress of twilight…”

“We’re inside, there’s no twilight inside!” Tony interrupted. 

“There’s magic everywhere!” Pepper continued, undisturbed by Tonys comment.

“I’ve told you Pepper: no such thing as magic! There are just ‘not yet scientifically explainable phenomenons’!” 

“Metaphorical magic, Tony!” Pepper sighed. “There is a lot of metaphorical magic going on on the other side of this lab!”

Tony gave Pepper a look of doubt, this scene of caressing twilight and metaphorical magic she was painting rubbed the cynic in him the wrong way. Pepper just met his gaze in challenge.

“Look!” she commended, nodding in the direction of the unlikely pair. 

She had to repeat the gesture one more time before Tony finally turned his head. He could still see nothing, the pair was still talking but people talked all the time. And yes they were looking at each other but that was kind of expected considering the whole ‘currently talking to each other’ situation. And yes, Natasha had made herself pretty comfortable on that desk but that did not have to mean anything. Clint Barton made himself comfortable in air vents for Christs sake, who could really interpret anything from the odd behaviors of these crazy spy-assassins? Tony was just about to turn his head away to tell Pepper as much when something caught his eye. It was a small thing: just Natashas foot brushing up against Bruces legs. It could have been a coincident, easily so considering the way the pair was positioned, except Natasha was a trained spy and assassin, Tony did not think she did anything by accident; everything she did was a calibrated and intentional move. And Tony knew Bruce, knew the way he always needed to be in control because of “the other guy” and always remained aware of his surroundings. That foot would not be there unless both of them wanted it to be.

While his eyes were frozen on that damned foot Tony felt Pepper lean in right next to his ear. He could almost hear the smile on her lips as she whispered: “And with all this romantic atmosphere…”

Tony sighed deeply. “… disasters in the air…”

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment or hit me up on tumblr (astonishing-pryde) if anyone wants to talk poly!avengers because this silly little fic has so many ideas and headcanons brewing underneath the surface and I'd love to discuss them!
> 
> (Also, just throwing this idea out therefor anyone to grab: companying piece with inner monologs from Bruce and Natasha inspired by Simba and Nalas verses? Anybody? No? Just me? ...maybe my dad?)


End file.
